It has been almost a WHOLE year since I last posted. And sometimes I just get a little sick to my stomach thinking about all that has happened, that hasn't been "recorded". I have a private blog, where I write a lot down, but I don't always write in complete sentences and I never post pictures (it's just for me). Sooooo, I thought I would copy my sister-in-law Caroline, and do a monthly "wrap-up" of sorts . . . so that my children's childhood memories aren't lost completely!!
So here are some of the things that went on here in March . . .
Claire had been watching a lot of Barbie princess movies, and was talking a lot about going to a "ball". She would ask Daddy all the time, when he was going to take her. He told me, "I've got to figure out some way to take her to a "ball"! Soooo, we were excited when the elementary school announced a "Candy Land dance". I think it's kind of silly to have dances for elementary school kids, but we called it a "ball" and planned on going!
It actually turned out to be a really fun family activity (even though Caleb and Liam didn't join us -- they had other plans). There were candyland character cutouts everywhere, and big candies all over the walls, and colorful lights. The kids loved the music, and the "candy bar" where they got to fill a little bag with treats. But best of all . . . Quinn got to check "taking Claire to the ball" off his list of things to do!
Caleb won a poetry prize for a poem he wrote about "Lucky the Penguin". His poem was published on the Penguin Palooza website, where it was read by him -- so cute to hear his raspy little voice. The awards were presented at a bookstore where they brought in live penguins from the zoo to showcase. But I guess the penguins were late, so they switched the awards and the penguins -- so we missed the awards (since it was a Sunday, and we were leaving church JUST to get his award). So they just handed him his award and his medal by the work desk. Kind of anticlimatic . . . but he was totally fine with it. He's not really one who likes "a lot of people looking at him". :)
The second grade did a HUGE unit on penguins, part of this was for them to do research on a certain kind of penguin. The kids had a "living museum" at school where they got to present their research in creative ways. Caleb dressed like a zoo keeper -- but refused to wear his costume after lunch (when I went to watch him present). He also had a cool poster that he made and a globe to show where the different species that he studied were found.
For spring break, we went camping. It was LOTS of fun!
The weather was beautiful, so we got to swim and enjoy the sand and the sunshine, and enjoy some boating and fishing (but I didn't think it was going to be warm enough to swim, so I didn't pack swimsuits - hence the underwear).
Our little Anna is now 6 months old!! Half a year!! Where DOES the time go?
She is rolling all over the place, and eating fruits and veggies! All smiles, giggles, and squeals, and she's really starting to control her hands well. Love that baby!!
Luke fell from a tree in our front yard (that he was climbing). He broke his humorus bone IN HALF. He had to have emergency surgery to put it back together with 3 pins.
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| You can see the pins in this x-ray |
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| He got to leave the hospital in this cool wagon! |
A week later, we went back to get his hard cast on.
The room he was in had all sorts of Nastia Leukin's autographed gymnastics paraphenalia. Here is a leotard from the 2008 Olympics where she won gold!
Claire has been DYING to go gymnastics. Although, this is a picture of her pretending to do ballet. She even wrapped ribbon around her feet and ankles to look like toe shoes. :) It is so cute to watch her "do ballet" . . . she has so much grace, even if it IS just pretend. But her moves of choice are definately "gymnastics". (Or at least what she interprets as gymnastics!)
We went to Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream. We got some great tickets through Claire's preschool. It was SO awesome . . . of course, it's "DISNEY"! (Liam was with a friend, and Anna was with a babysitter)
Grammy and Grampy also went, along with Aunt Taryn, Uncle Brady, and Olivia. And Uncle Brett too!
Caleb's favorite part of the whole night was eating cotton candy. Literally. He spent the rest of the evening whining for more "treats". And since the cotton candy was gone before the show even started, it made for a long evening of whining. :)
I couldn't capture it on film, but Claire's face was just priceless! She loved EVERY minute of it! Big eyes, and excited squeals! It was all soooo magical to her. I was REALLY glad that we could take her. The little girls behind us were hilarious, saying over and over again, "I CAN'T believe I'm here!! I've waited my whole life to be here!" So precious!
Claire and Olivia were dancing in the aisle at the end of the show. Claire was so excited, she got carried away and tried to pick Olivia up (Claire is 3 and Olivia is 2). Well, needless to say they fell over, and Olivia cried. Claire felt so bad and had that face where she's trying to smile to hold back the tears.
I asked her after the show if she liked it, and she said , "yes, but I dropped my cousin." :)
The spring soccer season has started - for Luke and Caleb. Luke got to play one game before he broke his arm, and he'll be out for 6 weeks. We've had lots of canceled games because of rain though, so he may get to play again! Caleb's team is playing up a year (so they are playing 3rd graders). This is not a good picture at all . . . but it's the only one I've taken. You can see how big some of these kids are that they are playing against.
Baseball season started for Luke -- but they hadn't even had their first practice before Luke broke his arm.
:( There have been several games that have had to be rescheduled because of weather also, so he may get to play yet!
Liam is running track with his Juinor High team. He is running the 1600 (the mile) and the 4x400 relay. In the mile he was in first place the ENTIRE time until about the last 100 yards, and he just didn't have any sprint in his legs (lungs were fine, legs just wouldn't GO) -- and got passed by two runners. So he got third. His relay team got first place.
Here he is with two of his good friends Siri and Sadie. They are a year older than him, so they don't get to hang out as much these days. We just had to take a picture for "old time sake". :) I have pictures of these three playing leap frog in our backyard -- years ago.
Well, that was March!
